The Mixed Service Organisation (MSO) was a civilian arm of the British Army of the Rhine (

BAOR British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) was the name given to British Army occupation forces in the Rhineland, West Germany, after the First World War, First and Second World Wars, and during the Cold War, becoming part of NATO, NATO's Northern Army Gr ...

) which employed

displaced persons Forced displacement (also forced migration or forced relocation) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR defines 'forced displaceme ...

as drivers, clerks, mechanics and guards. Originally formed as Watchman and labour units in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War the MSO employed citizens of Eastern European nations occupied by the Soviets. These former prisoners of war, concentration camp inmates and forced labourers were left in western sectors of occupied Germany at the end of the war and chose not to return to their countries of origin. Whilst some displaced persons only worked with the organisation for a short time others stayed until retirement age. The MSO was organised in a structure similar to British Colonial Units, with a British Commanding Officer and senior Non-commissioned officers operating over a 'native' officer and NCO structure. Whilst the Transport Service was disbanded in the late 1980s the MSO Guard and Labour Services continued into the 1990s using guest labour from Turkey, Pakistan and other Non-EU Countries. There was also a contingency of ex British soldiers, most of whom were married to German girls, unemployed northern English men from Liverpool and Manchester a Scot as well as a sole French foreign legionnaire prior to its disbandment. Members of the MSO were known affectionately as "Mojos" by British servicemen.

Composition

The MSO was divided into several specialist services: MSO Armed Guard Service, guarding army installations (wore navy blue

Battle Dress A combat uniform, also called a field uniform, battledress, or fatigues, is a casual uniform used by military, police, fire, and other public uniformed services for everyday fieldwork and duty, as opposed to dress uniforms for formal function ...

uniforms and armed with obsolete .303 calibre

Lee–Enfield The Lee–Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the standard service rifle of th ...

rifles) MSO Dog Handlers, guarding army installations. MSO Labour Service, providing manual labour, controlled by the

Royal Pioneer Corps The Royal Pioneer Corps was a British Army corps used for light engineering tasks. It was formed in 1939, and amalgamated into the Royal Logistic Corps in 1993. Pioneer units performed a wide variety of tasks in all theatres of war, including Nor ...

. MSO Transport Service, driving 4 and 10 ton lorries, coaches and tank transporters, controlled by the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and do ...

then the

Royal Corps of Transport The Royal Corps of Transport (RCT) was a British Army Corps established to manage all matters in relation to the transport of men and material for the Army and the wider defence forces. It was formed in 1965 and disbanded in 1993; its units and tr ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Support Organisation & Mixed Services Organisations

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20150916014953/http://www.jao.delboys.com/RSigs4.htm Memories of encountering an MSO driver in 1966
Photo of an MSO guard of honour, 1957
British administrative corps British Army deployments British forces in Germany Allied occupation of Germany Germany–United Kingdom bilateral relations organisations